New ACME Hotel EGF

 In "The City of EGF Illustrated", 

it tells The New Acme Hotel was built in 1882, 

and was located on the SW corner of Sibley St and Washington Ave. 

In the June 1887 devastating storm, the barn was destroyed. 

Damages estimated at $100.

Using a bit of logic, the hotel was built in 1882.  This building looks a little well used, so maybe this photo was in the late 1890s or the early 1900s.  It makes me wonder if any of my relatives are in this photo?   The women on the balcony ... "residents" of the hotel?  

EAST GRAND FORKS is located where the Red River of the North and the Red Lake River gently meet.  Most cities and towns on the frontier experienced rapid early growth followed by a period of stagnation before they either died or entered relatively long periods of growth. East Grand Forks was different. It grew very slowly for the first few years.  In 1889, North Dakota became a state, on July 1, 1890, Grand Forks went dry.

The city of East Grand Forks was just 9 years old, but it had a powerful allure of lawlessness. During the city's early days in the late 1800s and through the first few decades of the past century, the dusty frontier town across the Red River was booming with bootleg booze, loose women and illegal gambling.  Here were places you could go and get served alcohol; and, of course, when you have alcohol, you probably get prostitution, too. A city doesn't really want to have a house of ill repute, but some of it just happened back then because of liquor.  The city had up to 48 saloons at one time, and Ripley's Believe It Or Not in the 1930s reported a three-block area of downtown had the highest concentration of neon lights in the world.

Frank Duffy of the East Grand Forks Courier once wrote "The police are kept unusually busy looking after the peace and quiet of the city, and a number of arrests have been made as follows: Wm. Casey, drunk; Henry Lewis, very drunk; B. Holland, hilariously drunk; Albert Ross, vociferously drunk, and Samuel Brown, dead drunk. The prisoners in each case got the usual dose."

By 1933, the Minnesota Legislature approved the sale of 3.2 percent beer.  April 28, 1933 was referred to as "New Beer's Eve." In one day, 100,000 bottles of beer were sold in East Grand Forks.

That's one interesting little city!

Potatoes!

Just for perspective: Things sure have improved. 

Grandpa Pape hauled potatoes in his big red truck. 

But borrowing from the Library of Congress, 

here's a truck loaded with potatoes in 1937. 

And a young boy picks potatoes near EGF, 1937. 

He's filling a basket, each potato bag holds two baskets, 

and weighs about 70 pounds when loaded. 

(1937 Photos by Russell Lee)

Banner School #51

Banner School #51

According to my mom, my aunt and records showing that my

grandfather attended this school as well in the early 1910s.

When was it built?  It was tore down sometime after 1970

when this photo was taken.

Aunt Carol told me this story:

"My Aunt Donna was my teacher once. One of my class mates and I, 

I think around 3rd grade, got ourselves wet in some ditch water.  

Holy cow you think we had set off a bomb!! 

She told me wait till you get home I am going to talk to your parents

 and tell them exactly what you did and you will be in big trouble. 

I was scared sh!tless.  Hid up in my room 

and sure enough she showed up."